Time and Struggle
by Skaasi
Summary: Another day, another dungeon, another battle. Two female characters have an unforgettable experience. Oneshot.


**_I can't believe I wrote up a Ragnarok Online fanfiction! Lemme think...I was bored one night and wrote this sometime around midnight. Yeah, all in one night. Hehehe.  
_****_  
I wrote this as a tribute to a fantastic History excursion with a great friend. Also, because my brother is addicted to this game. And before you ask, yes, I DID play...not anymore. School is a priority for me right now. Read on and you'll find out why. _**

**_Because my memory fails me often, I don't think the enemy/dungeon/character descriptions will be as accurate. But who cares! Fiction is made-up. XD Enjoy!_**

* * *

Two young women stood before the entrance to a magnificent clock tower. One of the girls looked up towards its rooftop. The pendulum was hypnotic; swaying and ticking loudly and ceaselessly. The floor was vibrating with the booming sound.

The adolescents were travelling again. Rune-Midgard was an enormous gaming environment and these two had assumed they'd explored it entirely. Unfortunately they had underestimated this country…

These particular travellers were quite a pair. One of them was an agile Lord Knight, with long purple hair; two pigtails were tied and hung in front with the rest of her hair flowing loosely down her back. Shantelle was her name in real life, but she derived 'Skaasi' from her last name and made this her screen name. She had played Ragnarok longer than the girl who stood aside her. Even so, she knew there were still plenty of places to go, in particular this clock town.

Meanwhile the other young lady was a Wizard – a _High_ Wizard – Katrina in real life, Navi within the game; a name she had used as a childhood alias in carefree, make-believe games. Her black ponytail was tied at the lowest point of her hair. Her long, mage cloak was a variety of blues, compared to Skaasi's heavy, grey-blue armour.

Both these girls were in their holidays, just after their Year 11 Preliminary examinations. This game was their way of escaping the stress of school…it may very well be their last time, too. Year 12 was no walk in the park. It was their final year of schooling, and then they were sent to embrace the real world…almost like their journeys in Rune-Midgard.

So, they attempted to make the most of their Spring Break in Australia.

Bringing us back to this game, we remember they're now before the clock tower. Skaasi had proposed coming here. Apparently, money (or Zeny, as the term was called) was abundant in this dungeon, as well as experience points. Players who 'meant business,' as Skaasi had described it, also came here, too. This was apparent as many of them were sitting around just outside the tower either recovering or waiting for fellow party members. One person, a Whitesmith, was conveniently selling plentiful Yggdrasil Berries; extremely powerful healing items, and Yggdrasil Leaves; items that could resurrect the fallen player.

Skaasi and Navi didn't bother too much about the Leaves. Their re-spawn point after they died in the game was set to their very position; as they were standing now. Resurrecting just wasted time and money. Each girl, on the other hand, had a small handful of Berries in their inventories.

Skaasi finally spoke. "Ready to wing it like we always do?"  
Navi nodded. "Yeah. Like I said, who needs all these fancy wings like the others to look impressive?" She motioned her eyes to many of the surrounding players; the majority of them flaunting their decorative wings, devil and angel alike.  
"Tell me about it," Skaasi replied, and they headed inside…

They were in a narrow passageway. Both of them were armed. One was wielding her two-handed sword, the other with her magic staff. Slowly and silently they moved on, surveying their surroundings constantly. At the end of this vacant passage (to their bewilderment) they had entered a grey, spacious room. There were dozens of sophisticated contraptions functioning within. Most likely, they were controlling the clock; time itself almost.

Before either of them could take another step, a cackling witch zoomed towards them. Skaasi saw this and destroyed it in a matter of seconds. She was trained to be fast, as I mentioned before. Agile.

Navi cheered, but had a close encounter with another witch on a broomstick and instinctively cast Soul Strike on it, magic balls which successively damaged the enemy and eliminated it. Navi used another spell, concentrating hard on the spot where the witch had been defeated.

"It's called a Baphomy. 7k HP," she told Skaasi.  
She nodded in reply. "Sweet. An enemy we've never seen before…"

Almost on queue, at least five of them spawned from different areas within the room and headed for Skaasi. She fought them furiously, parrying as much as she could while Navi charged up a Storm Gust.

In a few more seconds, they were all frozen. One had been destroyed. Skaasi finished off the remainder. She looked over at Navi. White angels emerged from both of them and in a matter of seconds, disappeared.

They had both evolved a level each.

"Cheers!" Skaasi raised a fist with glee. Navi nodded back, grinning.

Now that the room was lacking much commotion, they discovered two different passages to take.  
"Right," they both said. Now staring at each other after their suggestions, they laughed.  
"Let's go left for the hell of it," Navi told Skaasi. Skaasi agreed and off they went.

Navi almost fainted after a book-shaped monster with vicious teeth had attacked her. Luckily Skaasi gave it a few good Bashes and it was gone.

"The one thing I love…reading. And a book attacks me." She sighed. Skaasi chuckled, secretly pitying her.  
"You're the best target, you know. Wizard means low Hit Points," she told her Wizard companion.  
"I'm gonna burn it next time," she said, eyes lighting up like flames.  
Skaasi applauded her. "Spoken like a true pyromaniac!"

And Navi did just that. About three Mimics appeared and she set them all alight with a furious Meteor Storm. At the same time she also eliminated a Baphomy.

"Well done," Skaasi praised the Wizard as she levelled up once again.  
"This dungeon's kinda easy," she remarked, now sitting down on the floor. "My staff even looks bored."  
"Huh? How do you tell?"  
"Wizardly intuition."  
"I don't believe you."  
"Well, you should. There's a Mimic behind you." At that precise moment, Skaasi received a Critical Hit from the monster. Navi couldn't help laughing.

With a few swipes it was gone.

"Meanie," Skaasi snapped. Navi smiled with innocence etched all over her face; a false kind of innocence. Skaasi rolled her eyes. "Let's keep going. Up and at 'em," Skaasi told Navi. Reluctantly, she got up and they progressed further and further through the dungeon, defeating every Baphomy and Mimic withstanding their path. Their crusade was unbelievable easy. Only twice Skaasi levelled up; Navi thrice. They picked up items when they didn't feel too lazy. The enemy witches were dropping magic staffs stronger than Navi's, so naturally she snatched them without hesitation.

Meanwhile Skaasi found a lot of Old Blue Boxes and Old Purple Boxes. She did not open them to receive a random item. With her 'dumb luck,' as she called it, the randoms she gained were too cheap. So she would rather sell the Boxes themselves and earn a few thousand Zeny for each.

The teenagers reached a portal, taking them to harder opponents. Feeling a challenge finally awaiting them, they both entered the magical circle without a second thought.

The walls were not grey-blue anymore, but green. A strange, polluted smell surrounded them. "Foul!" was all Skaasi could say in response to the stench.

That wasn't the only foul thing about this part of the Clock Tower. Enemy after enemy appeared, mainly large rats called Cramps and the un-dead Ghouls. They weren't the average small-time like before. At least a minute was spent fighting each group of cronies they bumped into. Navi almost died when Skaasi took the wrong route, but luckily she used the right number of Yggdrasil Berries and quickly cast Lord of Vermillion for massive damage. Navi now had no more Berries…

Skaasi reached her in the nick of time and finished the job for her. An assassin walked past that very moment. It was a male character.

Senselessly, he asked Navi out, but Skaasi cursed and scolded that he should take a better search in the real world, while also looking for a personality. He left the two girls, quite aggravated.

Navi found this alarming coming from timid Skaasi, but she had had more experience in MMORPG than she ever would, and this scenario must've been common. It was a shame, in Skaasi's point of view, people like them weren't reported and told to get a life.

Skaasi and Navi bumped into a skilled Champion, who was using his Summon Spirits to eliminate all in his path. He has messy, blonde hair and was wearing Silly Glasses and a Sombrero.

"Hi, ladies," he greeted them, after he finished off a Cramp.  
"Hello," the girls answered in unison, Skaasi more coldly than Navi.

There was a brief silence that followed. All of them stood there anticipating something to happen.

The Champion spoke at last. His screen name was 'Kinoko.'  
"You guys…girls, sorry…look strong."  
Skaasi and Navi looked at each other, then back at Kinoko. He had a ridiculous smirk. Navi sighed. "Yeah, I suppose. You want something?"  
"Kind of," he replied. "Seeing as you've gotten this far, I'd thought I ought to reward you both with something."

Skaasi and Navi raised their eyebrows.  
"You're a bluff," Skaasi retorted.  
"Maybe," he replied, almost tauntingly. "Possibly, in fact—"

He pulled out a plain looking stick. It was a Dead Branch.

"NO, YOU—" Skaasi yelled.  
Too late. He'd thrown it to the ground, muttered "I am," and teleported without a trace.

The branch shimmered, then disintegrated into a huge, shadowed samurai. The shadow was emerging from a short, old man. He looked as if he were possessed. It was an Incantation Samurai.

The high-levelled monster summoned five other samurais, its cohorts, known as Shinobi.

Navi and Skaasi were filled with sudden fear. Navi cursed (not with magic). Skaasi used her Berserk skill. With this skill, she became exceedingly strong and nimble with the blade, but could no longer talk, nor use items. This meant, as you may have assumed already, that she could not use her only source for recovery…her Yggdrasil Berries.  
Navi gasped. "Skaasi!" The Incantation Samurai defeated the Wizard in five brisk hits and she felt to the ground unable to move; defeated.

She chose not to re-spawn to her save point at the Tower's entrance just yet. She could still speak. She wanted to see her friend in MVP battle. This was her first time.

Skaasi, with the help of two equipped cards, could attack with such unnatural speed, as well as damage more than one enemy simultaneously when in close range. However a portion of her accuracy was sacrificed for this ability.

Rapidly, the HP of the MVP monster was dropping, the Shinobis falling, then spawning over and over again.

Skaasi was likewise experiencing speedily drop in HP. But she sliced and hacked away without letting up, Navi watching awestruck from her immobile position.

It was extremely noisy. Yet, no one else could help Skaasi. With dread, Navi watched Skaasi's HP fall to 10000…5000…3000…1000…then…

She fell to the ground after a final Critical Hit. The Incantation Samurai flew over her, victorious. The old man bearing the evil spirit walked away, Shinobis stumbling after him.

Skaasi heaved a loud groan, then shouted, "That BASTARD!" Shortly she disappeared in a blue beam of light, teleporting to her re-spawn point. Navi followed suit. _We were SO close…_

"We gotta do that again."  
"Definitely. Your efforts towards the end were cool!" They stood outside the Tower, leaning against the wall.

"That was bloody hard, Navi," Skaasi whinged. Navi shook her head. "You still tried…" She grinned. "I'm gonna retire now. Goodnight, Shan."

For a moment, Skaasi stared blankly at the blue clad Wizard friend, but shortly replied with a great beam. She waved. "Sweet dreams, Kat."

With two beams of light, they vanished to return to the real world.

_END_


End file.
